“Woe unto you, Lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52). George Washington Carver was a 19th-century scientist who was also a deeply committed Christian. He would get up at 4 AM and go into the woods to commune with the Lord. He said the Lord would show him things out there that he would adapt to the lab, He invented 200 uses for the peanut: that peanut butter sandwich you ate recently is thanks to the power of prayer! (I believe God revealed many scientific truths on earth through the years that have alleviated much pain and suffering.)

But, there are also “secret things” that haven’t yet been revealed. That doesn’t mean He doesn’t want to tell them to you or purposely keeps them from you. But, there is often a price to pay to discover them: “The secret of the Lord is with them that FEAR HIM; and he will show them His covenant” (Psalm 5:14). There is a general covenant of healing (Ex. 15:26, 23:25) and a personal covenant of healing. One necessary ingredient to discover your personal covenant is to “FEAR HIM.” I know a Foursquare minister who developed cancer. He reported: “God has my FULL attention!” Do you need healing? If so, does God have your full attention?

Disease motivates us to seek medical help, which is proper. But, we should be even more motivated to seek God to see what the Lord is saying about this illness and to reveal the “secret of the Lord” KEY that will bring our healing. The 700 Club told the testimony of a woman whose husband was going blind. She opened the Bible to the story where Jesus spat on the ground and anointed a blind man’s eyes. She knew this was her answer (her “key” or “rhema”) for her husband. She went outside, spat on the ground & anointed her husband. And God healed him! So, do you think you should go out and spit on the ground? Of course not. No, that was her key, her rhema! Yours may be quite different

Jesus talked in Luke 11:52 about lawyers who had hindered people from obtaining the…”key of knowledge” What is the “key of knowledge?” Well, concerning healing, I believe somewhere in God’s creation (somewhere in the natural world), there are natural keys or means of healing virtually every known disease. Through these keys, we have already eradicated many diseases. Children rarely die of historic childhood diseases anymore, and mothers rarely die in delivery, which proves to me that there isn’t a “time to die” for every person predetermined by God, or else surely God would still be “taking” people just as frequently through these same means.

Good medicine has extended life expectancy for us all! And we may need only the “knowledge” of some medical, holistic, or nutritional “key” to extend our time on earth. There are many natural keys to healing. 1/ The key to many people’s healing would be to join a gym! 2/The key to many others’ healing would be to radically change their diet. 3/The key to, unfortunately, many more would be to stop worrying and allowing so much stress in their lives!

“He who had the key of David, He that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts. and no man opens” (Rev. 3:7). David had a key as a king. You are king in God’s Kingdom. Trust Him to help you find that key! The Lord spoke to my wife once to eat almonds (Subsequent studies show wonderful almonds are for our health!).

The late Pastor Jack Hayford told how the Lord told him to stop eating chocolate, explaining that he believed that the Lord knew that something about his makeup made chocolate bad for him. Unlike Jack, I eat chocolate daily! For most people it is very healthful!

My sister, Elaine, had been diagnosed with “bad” arthritis in her shoulder. The Lord told her to take herbs. She started taking cayenne pepper pills and Turmeric capsules (I take both daily!). She had a dramatic improvement! A Doctor said my wife had “carpal tunnel syndrome” and needed surgery! We went to a Chiropractor recommended by a relative. He gave her adjustments. Decades later, and still no surgery!

My brother-in-law, Tom, had a terrible gallbladder attack. The Doctor told him that he had to remove it because of stones. Tom asked him, “Isn’t there any other alternative?” The surgeon said, “No.” (Always be suspicious of a surgeon who gets thousands for cutting you open! On the other hand, if he offers to do it for free…). Tom called and asked me about it (He knows I am a student of holistic health). I researched and discovered a Chinese herbal formula “guaranteed” to shrink stones. He took it instead of having the surgery, and over a decade later, there was still no surgery!

See, keys can be different for each person! And God can use dreams, words, counselors, and other kinds of doctors to help you find those keys. For some, their key may be surgery (With one caveat! It’s estimated that as many as 180,000 or more a year die from medical mistakes!). When you check into a hospital for a surgical procedure, you are entering a more dangerous place than a war zone! Oh, isn’t it wonderful to have his promises for guidance and protection! For another ill person, the key may be a new prescription. But remember…Prescriptions are poisons with side effects! Only take them if you really need to! Many of us could testify how the Lord supernaturally led us to a doctor or medicine that solved a physical problem. I take many vitamins, herbs, and other supplements daily.

“He who has the key of David, He that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts. and no man opens” (Rev. 3:7).

Let Jesus shut the door on anything exacerbating your physical problems, and trust Him to lead you to an “open door” (which now may be closed, yet there is a secret key to open it) that will bring your healing, either with the help of things He has “hidden” in nature, through doctors or His promises and His divine power! Make this your confession… I Will Find the key to MY healing!

Have you been asking the Lord, “Why am I not Healed Yet?” The answer may surprise you, so read on! Christians often confess, “I’m trusting the Lord for my healing” or “I’m standing on His promises.” Many who do this find healing, yet others don’t. I’ve laid my hands on thousands; some received healing, yet many did not. I’ve sought to understand why. We thank God for those who are healed, and many of you reading this have experienced the miracle power of God’s healing Hand! Oh, isn’t that the desired and preferred way!

Yet, we thank God, too, for modern medicine, which has saved so many lives! Nevertheless, we know science is still greatly limited. Why hasn’t our “trusting the Lord” and “standing on his promises” brought far more widespread and successful supernatural healing of diseases? We see it in the Word! I believe part of the answer is this: There is often a Personal Key to your healing! . . . and your key could be more than just “trusting” or “standing on promises.” Oh, yes! Let’s trust & stand on the promises!

Yet, I also believe we should aggressively seek the Lord for a possible unknown KEY to our healing, especially for any long-term illnesses. For one, the KEY may be “trusting the Lord for healing.” But, after observing a sick and dying church for over 60 years (I started praying for the sick when I was 17 years old!), I am convinced that there is often more that we can do! I believe we should not just imitate the successful method someone else used. Reading about how somebody laid claim to their healing and received a miracle and trying to emulate THEIR KEY without making sure that that is also YOUR KEY, in my opinion, is often a mistake. A key is something that opens a closed and locked door. Did you ever stop to think that we wouldn’t need keys or locks if it weren’t for thieves? Satan is a thief (John 10:10). He wants to steal our health. Health is necessary for effective ministry! Many have an illness seemingly closed to medical and spiritual attempts to open it, at least temporarily. They seem “locked” into their physical bondage. The enemy has robbed them of their health. BUT, somewhere in God’s earthly kingdom or heavenly kingdom is a God-given KEY that could open that door!

To King Hezekiah, the key was a poultice of figs (Isa. 38:21). To Naaman, it was washing seven times in the Jordan River (II Ki. 5:10). For Timothy, Paul believed his KEY was to use “holistic” health methods: “Use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your often infirmities” (1 Tim. 5:23). For those who lived in Gennesaret, it was to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matt. 14:36). For some, it was a piece of cloth from Paul the Apostle (Acts 19:12). For the Corinthians, it was to repent of their wrong attitude: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you” (1 Cor. 11:30). For sick folk in Samaria, it was to attend the revival where Philip the evangelist was preaching (Acts 8:4-8). For some, it was to be the first in the pool of water that the angel troubled (John 5:4). For one man, it was to have mud and spit put in his eyes and then washed off. (Jn. 9:6). See how personal a KEY can be!!! Different people had very different Bible keys. And I believe it is still the same today!

Many believe that the “Official” healing method is to find a promise of healing in God’s word, claim it, confess it, believe it, and vigorously fight the devil and unbelief until you receive your healing. Please don’t mistake me in today’s teaching; I believe in doing these things too! They are all scriptural. This isn’t a false method, but it is nevertheless a “method.” One which, it appears, the above people in the Bible didn’t use to get their healing. Yes, do “fight the fight of faith” (1Tim. 6:12). But, as well, Seek, and find, any personalized KEY to YOUR HEALING!

The late David Yongi Cho wrote the book “The Fourth Dimension.” In it, he related how when he would pray for people’s healing, he noticed how even though he prayed the same way, claiming the same promises, some people received their healing, and some didn’t. This disturbed him (as it does all of us!), so he sought the Lord, and the Lord gave him a critical revelation. God showed David the difference between the Word of God (the “logos” in Greek) and the Word of the Lord (the “Rhema” in Greek). The logos, all the words in the whole Bible, reveal that it is God’s will to heal us, and that God is a good God who wants us well (III John 2). However, to receive a miracle of healing, one often needs a rhema, a specific and personalized “Word of the Lord,” either pointed out by the Spirit to us from the eternal Scriptures or spoken from the present mouth of God.

When a rhema is received concerning a person and their disease, believed and acted upon, healing results. Without that rhema, this personalized revelation, it may be harder to receive a miracle. This truth helps explain why one is healed in the prayer line, and one isn’t.

But, you might ask: “Well then, what about the verses in the Word that promise healing?” God’s Word is sure, from heaven’s viewpoint: “Your Word, oh Lord, forever is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). From God’s side of the equation, it is settled! But, whether or not a scriptural truth will manifest on earth in your personal life, is often dependent on getting hold of your unique KEY and using it. In my opinion, NOT just having faith, Why? Because there are all kinds of mitigating circumstances happening down here on earth: 1/ unseen demons resisting. 2/ generational curses that need breaking. 3/ sins of the heart besetting. 4/ unbelief (not just doubts, but “an evil heart of unbelief” Heb. 3:12), 5/ unforgiveness hindering, 6/ God’s sovereign, unique individual dealings, 7/ God’s perfect timing in the matter, 8/ God’s chastening Hand, 9/ God’s bigger picture (as with Job or Lazarus in the Bible), etc. These often unknown factors can vary the equation of healing for each individual. This is why if “standing on God’s promises” and being prayed for hasn’t resulted in your healing, begin earnestly seeking God for further direction, for a personal rhema, for . . . YOUR KEY to YOUR HEALING

“I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19). Jesus has “keys” to the “kingdom.” Healing is part of His kingdom’s blessings! We hear these keys preached as “universal” keys, like faith, the Word, prayer, name of Jesus, etc. But, though there are “skeleton” keys that fit many locks, there are also custom-made keys that fit only 1 lock. I submit to you the possibility that there’s a unique key to your healing that, for secret reasons, must be handmade by a heavenly locksmith (the Lord Himself), discovered, and applied. Jesus has promised to give us these keys, but said, “Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” (Matt. 16:9). Notice: He said, “Whatever YOU . . . ” So there is still something YOU must do, even if you already have the key! (A key sitting in your pocket or purse is virtually useless until you APPLY it to a lock). The devil may fight us from discovering our key, and once we have it, he will fight us to keep us from using it! So, Jesus clarifies that it’s up to us to “bind” the enemy through spiritual warfare and “loose” the heavenly answer through prayer, faith, AND obedience! Often, it isn’t having the key so much as learning to seek, hear, and obey what the key-giver says about that key! So, we need to seek Him, obey His instructions, and cooperate with His leadership, especially as the devil tries to devour us (1 Pet 5:8, 9).

Determine to pray the price to get the key to your healing from your heavenly locksmith!